No Islamists Here: Media Buries Motive on Toulouse

Why did Mohammed Merah kill three children and a teacher at the Otzar Torah school in Toulouse, France? Why did he previously kill three French soldiers in two shootings prior to Monday’s massacre? Eric Pape writes in “A Tragedy in Toulouse” (via Andrew Sullivan):

Prior to the Jewish school attack, anti-racism groups had been pointing to what they saw as the troubling xenophobic, anti-Muslim, and perhaps even anti-Semitic subtext of the presidential campaigns by the far-right National Front party as well as Sarkozy’s “respectable right” ruling party. Both have criticized Muslims — and, to a lesser extent, Jews — during the controversy over halal and kosher meat. And both have called for stark reductions in legal immigration to France. (The far right wants a 90 percent drop, while Sarkozy’s UMP has said that 50 percent is the most that is possible.) Prominent figures in both parties have amalgamated immigration and crime, despite the absence of any legitimate statistics on the matter.

The other dominant theory about the killer is that he could be a radical Islamist — whether a lone wolf inspired from afar or someone affiliated with an international power structure — who took aim at the soldiers as a message to France about its military policy abroad, and at the Jewish school to get back at Israel. There is no shortage of aspects of French foreign policy that might create enemies these days, from the ongoing French military presence in Afghanistan to the successful efforts to help overthrow Muammar al-Qaddafi in Libya to intensifying political sanctions in Iran to the Élysée’s desire for regime change in Syria.

Aside from faulting Sarkozy, this isn’t unreasonable. Until Merah was identified as the shooter, the killer’s choice of targets suggested these two motivations. Similarly, the possibility that Islamic terrorists were guilty of the bloodshed was considered before Anders Behring Breivik was identified as the perpetrator of the massacres in Norway.

However, there was plenty of speculation. A BBC report, which did consider the possibility of anti-Semitism, told us:

This was a killer in a completely different realm of hatred.

It may well turn out that he has a complex system of self-justification for all that he has done. But it also seems likely that psychologically he is deeply disturbed.

Certainly the brutality of the killings — especially chasing down a girl before shooting her — shows hatred, but does it show the killer to be disturbed? A roundup of reports from the French media, presented by the BBC, emphasizes the idea of a (generally) racist killer.

No one is suggesting that the French presidential campaign inspired a serial killer to put a bullet in the head of an 8-year-old Jewish girl.

Despite writing this, the theme of the remainder of his report is best summarized by this passage:

There is no question that Mr. Sarkozy has made appeals throughout his political career to French anxieties about crime and foreigners, and this campaign has been no exception.

Mr. Bayrou singled out a speech by Mr. Sarkozy in Grenoble in the summer of 2010, after a clash between poor Muslims and the police, that linked “unchecked” immigration and security problems. “We are subjected to the consequences of 50 years of insufficiently controlled immigration, which has produced a failure of integration,” Mr. Sarkozy said.

Erlanger’s disclaimer seems disingenuous as the bulk of the article suggests very strongly that Sarkozy’s campaign (and history) may have inspired a racist killer. Even the headline suggests that nationalism of the election is what created a climate in which such terror could take place.

37 Comments, 16 Threads

1.
carla

Big surprise. Of course Tom Freidman hasn’t weighed in yet. In nature, in the wild, these creatures would not survive to reproduce. The trouble with the left is that their policies might well consign them to extinction, and drag the rest of us with them.

The LSM is a thing to behold. First the LSM floated the possibility it was a Far-Right neo-Nazi who might have been the shooter, now it’s the Far-Right National front’s campaigning that caused the shooting, or maybe it was Sarkozy’s xenophobic right-wing campaigning, or maybe the shooter was deranged by the far-right, or maybe it was because of Israel’s defending itself against rockets from Gaza, or maybe this far-right or that far-right or maybe its the Joos, but it’s never, never the ideology of the RELIGION OF PIECES.

Many thanks to PJM and its writers for analyzing the nonsense that passes as news these days in the LSM.

Mr. Gerstman’s article today is exceptionally well researched and referenced. Surprisingly, though, Mr. Gerstman chose only to expose this single flagrant example of MLM anti-Semitic, pro-Islamic bias. The record of such flagrant examples, however, is as long as both of Mr. Gerstmans’ arms AND legs.

Readers interested in reviewing some of that long record of flagrant pro-Islamic bias are invited to visit Another Slow News Day’s blog page devoted to that topic.

France & all of Europe will be an Islamic state ruled by the Sharia in less than a generation.

With the help of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and Holy Warriors, Allah willing, we will turn France & all of Europe into an Islamic state ruled by the Sharia, in the very near future. Allahu Akbar!

We have already achieved impressive numbers in France and Europe & our numbers are growing. We are taking over France & Europe. We don’t even need to use nuclear bombs to conquer you decadent infidels. We already have nearly 50 million of our brothers and sisters in the infidel nations of Europe, who are growing rapidly in number — while the infidels are aging, shrinking, and dying — and are turning it into Eurabia. Our women’s wombs are our greatest weapon. We are conquering you in the maternity wards and kindergartens. You can’t stop it. Your grandchildren will be living under the Sharia. It is inevitable. Your granddaughters will wear the burqa.

Your infidel lifestyle has proven to be a total and absolute failure. You degenerate Westerners way of life is collapsing all around you. You are unable to solve your own problems. We have the answer. We have a better way of life. We have the right solution for all crises and this is the observance of the divine law, namely the Sharia. We call to implement the Sharia in France. The Sharia is the perfect system for humanity. We invite the French leaders, the politicians, all the media and cultural elites, and every French resident to submit to the light of Islam. Save yourself and your children of the painful punishment of the hereafter and grant yourself eternal life in paradise. There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

You Infidels in America and Europe, your decadent nations are collapsing, while our population is exploding. You decadent Infidels are aging and dying out. We will enter your countries, and take over through our sheer numbers, and impose the Sharia — God’s Law. Allah’s laws are for all nations, all countries and for all time. All other laws are man-made and must submit to the will of Allah. It takes a little adjustment period, but once you get used to living under the Sharia, you will be much better off.

Soon, France will fall apart. May Allah disperse them and their country. Amen. Allah willing, we will turn the Eiffel Tower into a Mosque. Allah willing, France will soon be freed from polytheism and idolatry. Let us live in an Islamic state, in which there is no idolatry, and there is only “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

LOL. Talk about decadence you should know that nothing is more depraved than the Muslim habit of raping very young daughters. Fathers and uncles deny themselves nothing in that respect. In Afghanistan, the habit of seduce young boys to homosexual acts is well documented by personnel in the U.S. Army. – I don’t give anything for your big mouth talk.

” Meryl points out that after the soldiers were killed, French authorities had a lot of clues that may have well led them to Merah. Given that Merah already was on the authority’s radar, why didn’t the French police connect him to the soldiers’ killings before he had a chance to strike at Otzar Hatorah?”

hmm, apart knowing that the shootings were made with the same arm !

It’s only when experts found out the identity of who connected the first paratrooper on the Net, and that the Yamaha garage formally identified Merah’s peculiarity that no doubt that Merah was the author of the crimes was defined.

On ITV (a channel that belongs to Canal+) it was reported that Merah hadn’t forecasted his attack on the jewish school, that was unfortunately on his way after that Merah failed to find his next victim at his home, another paratrooper. From deceiption he killed the first people in his sight, and these were conveniently these poor jewish children, naturally also symbolic for him.

France & all of Europe will be an Islamic state ruled by the Sharia in less than a generation.

With the help of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and Holy Warriors, Allah willing, we will turn France & all of Europe into an Islamic state ruled by the Sharia, in the very near future. Allahu Akbar!

Soon, France will fall apart. May Allah disperse them and their country. Amen. Allah willing, we will turn the Eiffel Tower into a Mosque. Allah willing, France will soon be freed from polytheism and idolatry. Let us live in an Islamic state, in which there is no idolatry, and there is only “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

this info wasn’t displayed until Merah was surrounded by the special forces and was telling of his motivations during the whole day. Before, there was no doubt that he purposely targetted the jewish school, and it seems that it’s still true, in spite of what he might have said, and he gave the excuse of advenging the palestinian kids too. So It might be that the terrorist hadn’t a rational explanation for his behaviour.

I used “symbolic” because it was the explanation that was given, for targetting the basis of a state,the army, the police (his next programmed victims), and the Jews, that are the remnent reasons used by the Muslims to justify their ire.

Hmm, I might have been blurred.

Today a teacher has been fired out with “fracas”, she wanted that her class make a minut of silence for the death of Merah, the kids (most likely teens) protested and got out the class, and called their parents, who protested at the academia direction, the Inspetor of the academia cam illico presto to fire out the teacher.

So, it gives you a idea of the atmosphere, the population has enough of the lefty empathy with the muslims terrorism

Marie “From deceiption he killed the first people in his sight, and these were conveniently these poor jewish children, naturally also symbolic for him.”

No dear. He specifically sought out the jewish school as a secondary target simply because they were Jews. They were not “the first people in his sight”. You are minimizing his motive as if these were random victims. He was nothing more than a trained al-Queda killer on a mission. He knew exactly what he was doing and gave specific reasons as to why he killed the soldiers and the Jewish children.

I realize that english is not you first language Marie, but I would also like to point out that the second part of your statement, that the jews were “naturally symbolic to him” is also objectionable. When you say that someone’s motive or actions come “naturally” it means that it is understandable and reasonable.

You might say “after the incident on the helicopter he was naturally afraid of flying.” You would never say “after his unhappy childhood Dahmer naturally developed a taste for human flesh”

To use the term “symbolic” is perverse when we are talking about methodically gunning down children at close range. The is nothing “symbolic” about that.

Perhaps that is not what you meant to say. I would be interested in your explaination.

Allah willing, France & all of Europe will soon be freed from polytheism and idolatry. Let us live in an Islamic state, in which there is no idolatry, and there is only “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

What sort of liberties are offered by the western secular system? The liberty of disintegrating the family? The liberty of being homosexual?

The western capitalist system & democracy has been discredited. It has been shown to be a complete and utter failure. Your decadent infidel nations are all bankrupt and dying. It is time for Islam to rule. Communism, socialism, capitalism, democracy… have all failed. We have the answer. We have a better way of life. We have the right solution for all crises and this is the observance of the divine law, namely the Sharia. The Sharia is the perfect system for humanity. Allahu Akbar!

I suspect Leatherneck is correct. But our resident “Islamist” spouts some excellent hyberbole to reveal that Islamism has skillfully perverted “Allah” (the God of monotheism) into an ecclesiastical Big Brother. Scary.

Worshiping Mo/allah as you and other Muslims do is idolatry. Plain and simple and you talk about others of idolatry, so what?? And to remind you, killing people is “filthy” and immoral which you don’t even know!!

Unless the native female french population of child rearing age are willing to give brith to 12 babies in they child rearing age the native French will be than minorite in French. The average birth rate for native french woman is 1.8 babies in they child bearing age for the last 40 to 50 year while the average birth rate of the muslum woman in french is 8.1 babies in childbearing age.

Melanie Phillips: “… Any Palestinian child casualties in such operations occur solely as a tragic and inadvertent by-product of war — and as often as not because the Palestinians have put their own children in harm’s way.

Surprise, surprise. The killer was a Muslim. Why am I not surprised? Muslims are incapable of existing in a civilized society. They look for reasons to riot and kill. They have a history of violence and eradicating other religions from their midst. Look at what’s going on in Egypt. It’s also illegal to have a bible in Saudi Arabis.

Islamist is another name for Muslims. All Muslims are Islamists. However, the clueless media would rather call these terrorists Islamists and not Muslims as if there is a difference between the two. They have and agenda to serve!!

This kind of garbage has been going on for a long time, where the jihadist is always either a ‘lone wolf’ or a ‘disturbed person’. I have always mused that if Al Gore had been elected president in 2000, the 9/11 catastrophe would have been caused by ‘global warming’ somehow.

AS I always say, all Muslims are Islamists and terrorits. There is no lone wolf, they are all members of the pack wolves called Muslims(no insult to wolves, they get bad name by this lone wolf analogy)